The Oil Field Worker Behind Casper Planet, Wyoming’s Most Popular Fake News

There's Wyoming's news as it happens, and then there's Wyoming's news as reported by Casper Planet, a satirical nod to Mark Twain’s famous motto to never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

More people should be aware of the difference, but many are not. 

Anyone who has heard about the giant tree roots under Devils Tower, hundreds of cobras let loose on Interstate 25, or a woolly mammoth calf exposed by the explosion of Black Diamond Pool can thank Casper Planet. These stories and more have attracted international attention, as such stories should — if they were true. 

The only thing is that they're actually fake news. It's all satire, something Justin Hathaway, the Casper Planet's founder and publisher, thinks more people should know before going off half-cocked on his humorous takes. 

It often doesn’t matter how ridiculous the headlines, there are those who will believe.

"There are a lot of people arguing about how real my stories are, and I'm not sure where that comes from," he told Cowboy State Daily. "They don't believe it's fake, but it's right there at the top of the page: it's satire. All names and locations are made up."

Fake or not, people like the Casper Planet, which has grown to more than 90,000 followers on Facebook.

Alternative News

Hathaway isn't a professional publisher and doesn't have any experience in journalism. Writing satirical stories for Casper Planet isn't even his full-time gig. 

"I've worked full-time in the oil fields for the last 15 years," he said. "I started with a beef, realized how fun it was, and I went with it." 

Hathaway wouldn't get into the specifics about the beef that led to creating Wyoming's most notorious satirical news outlet. All he'd say was that it was "a local beef with a local news agency." 

"I felt like they weren't being 100% truthful with their work," he said. "I told them it wasn't that hard to do, and I was going to do it myself." 

Hathaway's stories aren't truthful, but at least he owns that fact. It's been a decade since he published his first Casper Planet story, and he's still going strong. 

He started with three stories a day. After realizing how exhausting that was, he decided to scale back to a single satirical story per day, with the occasional day off. 

"If I'm putting together a post and something else hits me, and I absolutely need to get it out there, I'll write another post," he said. "But it's pretty exhausting, so I stick with one per day." 

Everything's fair game for Casper Planet content — or nearly everything. 

"Anything, except politics," he said. "I avoid politics, because it's too easy and not good. We're already in them 24/7." 

A Big Break

Hathaway didn't have to wait long for Casper Planet to blow up in a big way. His first post, "New Discovery Will Change History," remains the most-read thing he has ever posted. 

"That was the one I wrote about using some kind of X-ray equipment to find tree roots at the base of Devils Tower," he said. 

The post is only a few short paragraphs — a brief by modern Casper Planet standards. 

It reveals that the "Wyoming State Parks Department" used photographic seismic readings to discover a petrified root system, 4 miles wide and 7 miles deep, under Devils Tower. He reported it as a discovery "on the edge of rewriting history and science as we know it." 

The giveaway is obvious if you know where to look. There's no such thing as photographic seismic readings, nor is there a Wyoming State Parks Department. 

That's important to understanding Hathaway's satire. He quotes fake people, gets statements from fake agencies and only relies on fake science he fabricates for his fake stories. 

Hathaway posted his Devils Tower story July 31, 2017. As of July 2025, it has more than 106,000 reactions and 245,000 shares on Facebook. 

"It went worldwide a couple of times over," he said. "I got into arguments with the leader of the Flat Earth Society over that one. People still think it's true." 

It's Satire, Silly

Since 2017, Casper Planet has shared the latest and greatest fake news to come out of Wyoming. Nevertheless, Hathaway's still baffled by people who get all sorts of real angry over his made-up stories. 

"It's always entertaining and surprising," he said. "I've obviously upset a lot of people." 

Hathaway is constantly fielding messages from angry readers, upset either that he's posting fake news or arguing about how fake his stories are. He believes that most of the feedback stems from immediate, reactionary emotions. 

"It seems like they only read just a couple of sentences, and that's it," he said. "There's not a lot going on there, but they seem to be attracted to my page. I'm not sure what that's about." 

Casper Planet has its own dedicated page on Snopes, the myth-debunking website. 

It started with his Devils Tower post and includes several others that clarify that there isn't an ancient civilization buried under Horse Mountain, and the photo of Mickey Mouse dropkicking a toddler in Disneyland isn't real. 

When Satire Gets Serious

Still, even Hathaway recognizes when he needs to step in with more blatant clarification. One big example was his post on July 30, 2024, about a semitruck spilling hundreds of king cobras on I-25. 

"After the Wyoming Highway Patrol shared a post about it, I had to add a statement to the post saying it's not true and it's OK to travel through Wyoming," he said. "That one was big enough that Forbes had something to say about it." 

Hathaway isn't out to antagonize anybody or any agency, but sometimes his stories have unintended consequences. 

A recent story about releasing wild hogs to control invasive weeds resulted in a terse response from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. 

"They have my phone number," he said. "Sometimes, a story will take off and someone's phone will ring and ring and ring nonstop. 

“I've had a few conversations with them in the past, and I totally understand where they're coming from. That one had some people in Texas really upset."

Regardless of the story or the passionate blowback, Hathaway's response is always the same. 

"People just need to read a little bit," he said. 

A Labor Of Laughter

With so many fake stories and so much engagement, people assume Hathaway is profiting from Casper Planet. That couldn't be further from the truth. 

"There's zero money in it," he said. "Google AdSense does not like satire, so they won't put ads on the website, and Facebook won't let me monetize anything. I make a few bucks from subscribers to the website, but it's mostly a free gig." 

Some moderators have come and gone on his Facebook page, and Hathaway's friends have occasionally lent their satirical sense of humor to his efforts, but it's mostly a one-man show. That's been enough, for the most part.

Hathaway has no shortage of ideas. 

In addition to ongoing inspiration from current events, he said he has "hundreds of ideas" waiting to be developed. 

"I do a lot of driving, so I have a lot of time on my hands," he said. "That helps with the thought process. But right now, it's just me.

“My office is wherever I happen to be when a good idea strikes and I have a few minutes to spare. It’s basically brain diarrhea on the go.”

Honestly Enjoyable

So, what keeps Casper Planet going? Hathaway said it's partly for the laughs, but also because of the community that follows his work. 

"There are a lot of people who play along in the comments," he said. "It's almost like a little community. It can be hard to find them, but they're there." 

Being the editor, moderator and sole "employee" is exhausting, usually thankless and often a target of the internet's most passionate vitriol. But for all the fake news and satire, Hathaway genuinely enjoys what he does.

"It's just fun, and a good way to pass the time," he said.

Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.